


Live Laugh Loaf

by wildheartsneverdie



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Beau works for the Cobalt Delivery Company, Critmas Exchange, F/F, Fluff, Trinket is the Slayer Cake's best employee, shenanigans at the Slayer’s Cake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartsneverdie/pseuds/wildheartsneverdie
Summary: Keyleth meets the most beautiful delivery girl she’s ever seen.  Good thing she has friends to help her out.
Relationships: Keyleth/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 12
Kudos: 15
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2020





	Live Laugh Loaf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celaenos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/gifts).



> Here it is, my Critmas fic for celaenos! Writing this ship was a lot of fun.

Keyleth inhaled deeply as she entered the Slayers’ Cake. She always loved the smell of baking. “Tary?” Keyleth called out as she flipped the sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’.

“Back here! Just making some blondies!” Taryon answered cheerily.

Keyleth stepped into the back, waving excitedly at her friends. Or just Taryon, Doty and Trinket. (She wouldn’t tell anyone but Trinket was actually a pretty good baker.)

“Where’s Vex and Pike?” Keyleth asked, grabbing her apron down from its peg on the wall.

“Mmmoorrrgh.” Trinket rumbled.

“Oh.” Keyleth answered. Well, that explained it. “I guess it’s just us then, isn’t it?”

“I’ve been put in charge of baking for the day.” Taryon noted. “Which leaves you to handle the front.”

“Oh. Dealing with customers. No big deal. I can handle it.” Keyleth laughed nervously.

Keyleth could not handle it. Before lunch, she’d already spilled a drink on a customer, made a child cry by mistake and gotten yelled at for the blondies being too blond. That last one wasn’t exactly her fault. And she didn’t even know what that meant!

She was in the middle of carrying a tray of fresh bear claws to the front when a low, slightly husky voice said. “I’ve got a package here for Darrington.”

Keyleth looked up to see the most beautiful delivery girl she’d ever seen in her life. Dark brown hair pulled up into a top knot, piercing blue eyes and so many piercings! She was so cool and so hot. Hot and cold at the same time. Wow.

“Wow.”

“Huh?” The girl asked.

Keyleth laughed nervously. “I’m Keyleth.” She held her hand out.

“Beau.” The delivery girl shook her hand, her voice slightly suspicious.

“Oh! But I’m not Darrington. Darrington is in the back. It’s Taryon Darrington actually. He’s out back.” Keyleth gestured to the door.

“So you said.” Beau flashed a brief smile, then turned serious. “I need him to sign for this package.”

“I’ll just, uh, get him. For you. Bye!” Keyleth turned and walked right into a rack of bread. “Wow, has that always been there?”

She glanced over her shoulder and it looked like the mysterious Beau was laughing at her. Why did she always make such a fool of herself? Especially in front of pretty girls? Hastily, she retreated into the back. “Tary. There’s a girl here for you.”

“For me?”

“She has a package for you.” Keyleth’s face began to heat up even thinking about the delivery girl.

Taryon dusted his hands off on a towel. “Ah yes! My care package from home. My, my, aren’t you flustered? Let me show you how to charm the girl of your dreams.”

Striding out front, Taryon addressed Beau. “I hear you have a package for me.”

“Yeah. Just.” She held out a clipboard. “Sign here.”

Taryon signed the paper and passed it back to here.

“Thanks. If you ever need anything delivered, call on Cobalt Delivery.” Beau nodded to both of them before turning and leaving the Slayer’s Cake.

“And that’s how you do it.” Taryon turned to Keyleth, smiling broadly.

*****

Sometimes when Trinket put things away at the end of the night, he put them on the top shelf. This wasn’t a problem for Trinket, but did prove a problem for everyone who wasn’t a bear. Good thing Keyleth could turn into a long minxie! (Long minxie was just like minxie, only long.)

The bell over the door jingled and a low voice uttered the word. “Whoa.”

Keyleth zapped back to human, the height difference between a long minxie reaching up to a shelf and Keyleth’s human form left her a few inches off the ground. She dropped and landed lightly on her feet.

The delivery girl was back. And at her counter!

“Beau!” Keyleth exclaimed. Maybe it was weird that she remembered her name. “I mean, delivery girl! Wow, you’re here!”

“Uh yeah. I have another package for Darrington.” She hefted a very long package up onto the counter.

“Oh, I’ll get him.” Keyleth bounced into the back room. “Trinket, where did Taryon go?”

Trinket looked up from his batch of bear claws. “Mrrughp?”

“He stepped out!? But he has a package!”

“Rrrooarrrgh.”

Some people just had the worst timing! It was as if Taryon had left as soon as he heard the delivery girl arrive!

Keyleth returned to the front. “Uhm…. He stepped out. Can I sign maybe?”

Beau held the clipboard out to Keyleth. “Sign away.”

Keyleth wrote her name down, nice and neat as possible.

“So, uh, is that real tree bark in the almond bark?” Beau asked as she leaned nonchalantly against the pastry case.

“Did you want to try some?” Keyleth dove to grab a pair of tongs. In her enthusiasm, she knocked the tongs to the floor. “Oh, oops. I’ll get a clean pair.”

Keyleth grabbed a second pair of tongs from the peg, deposited too many pieces of almond bark into a paper bag and passed it to Beau. “It’s my special recipe.”

“How much do I owe you?” Beau asked.

“Nothing! It’s just a thank you for your hard work!” Keyleth laughed nervously.

“Awesome, thanks.” She took a bite of the almond bark. “It’s good. Sweet, like you.”

Keyleth’s face immediately heated up.

Beau winked and left the store.

Wait, wait, wait… Had the delivery girl just flirted with her?????

Taryon came out of the back, dusting his hands on his apron. “Ah. My very long and completely necessary gold rod is here. Did you see the delivery girl?”

*****

A week went by and Keyleth didn’t see the delivery girl again. It’s not like she was thinking about it, but it had been a whole week. She certainly wasn’t thinking about Beau’s arms or her smile or that Beau called her sweet.

She found herself flipping idly through a Gilmore’s Glorious Goods catalog. Maybe, just maybe, she should treat herself a little.

*****

Keyleth hummed. Her package from Gilmore’s was due to be delivered today.

“Darling, you’re in a good mood today.” Vex observed.

“Vex.” Keyleth turned to her. “Can you teach me how to wink?”

“Why you just close one eye and—” Vex winked. She was so cool! Who wouldn’t fall in love with that?

“Okay, but when I wink—” Keyleth winked.

Vex laughed. “You have to think about how you want the other person to feel. Put all your intent into that wink.”

Keyleth tried to imagine a wink that said ‘call me sweet again’ and she closed one, no two, eyes.

“That’s a blink, darling.” Vex smiled. “Well, perhaps with a bit of practice, you can woo your intended. Might I ask who it is?”

Keyleth started to laugh again, her voice a little high-pitched. “Oh, it’s no one. I don’t have an intended.”

The door opened and Bea walked through, one unwieldy package tucked under a toned arm and a much smaller package in her hand. “I have two packages here — one for Darrington and one for Keyleth.”

“Oh, that’s me!” Keyleth exclaimed. “Well, Keyleth is me.”

Beau passed the smaller package over to Keyleth. “Sign please.”

“Thanks. So um…” Think of something to say, think of something to say. “I could never get a piercing in my nose like that.”

Wait, that was a stupid thing to say.

“You got a problem with my piercing?” Beau asked.

“No! I just mean… um, you make it look really cool and I wouldn’t.” Keyleth signed her name quickly and passed it back to Beau. “I think you’re cool.”

And she winked.

“Do you have something in your eye?” Beau asked.

“Oh…!” Vex exclaimed as if something had just occurred to her. “I’ll fetch Tary. You just continue this conversation.”

Why did people keep disappearing when Beau showed up? It was as if they were trying to give them time alone!

“Hey, so uh…” Beau started, almost hesitant.

“Almond bark! Do you want some almond bark?” Keyleth asked.

“Sure.”

Nervously, Keyleth picked out a couple pieces of almond bark and passed the paper bag over to Beau. “There you go. Maybe it has tree bark in it, maybe it doesn’t. The mystery is part of the allure!”

“Would you—”

“Would I?” Keyleth asked anxiously.

“Would you like to go get coffee with me sometime?” Beau asked.

“YES!” Keyleth shouted with enthusiasm. “I mean yes. I’d like that. A lot.”

Beau grinned. “I’ll come pick you up. Tomorrow night, after the store closes?”

“Yes. Okay. That would be— Wow. That would be great.”

Beau held up the bag of almond bark as she walked backwards toward the door. “Thanks for the almond bark. And I think you would look cool with a piercing. Maybe I’ll hook you up with one tomorrow.”

Keyleth giggled. “Okay.”

Beau turned and left the store, a little bit of a swagger in her step.

“Kiki!” Vex dashed out from the back. “That was— It wasn’t brilliant, but you got a date!”

“Yes! And it’s all because I, Taryon Darrington, lured the delivery girl here with all these purchases!” Taryon hefted his package up from the counter. “I told you that I knew how to charm a girl.”

“I have a date? I have a date!!” Keyleth repeated. “Do you think she was joking about piercing my nose?”

“You’ll just have to see, won’t you?” Vex patted Keyleth’s shoulder.

“I have a date!!”


End file.
